About us

Very Short List (VSL) is a free, daily e-mail that points to excellent new (and sometimes vintage) entertainment and media that haven’t been hyped to within an inch of their lives. Each weekday, we tell our subscribers about a single recommended gem from among the vast pile of feature films and documentaries (in theatres and on DVD), television shows, novels, nonfiction books, magazine articles, Websites and services, CDs, radio programs, and more. The focus is on products that really deserve attention but haven’t already been subject to giant media pile-ons.

Or, to put it another way: We write about things we’ve discovered that please us so much that we can’t wait to tell other people about them. (All of our daily e-mails are archived HERE, by the way.)

Very Short List was founded in 2006 by Kurt Andersen, Simon Dumenco, Michael Jackson, Tim Nolan, Emily Oberman, and Bonnie Siegler. It is funded by IAC/InterActiveCorp.

The general manager is Gary Foodim (click HERE to contact him).

Our editorial advisers include Robert Abele, Andy Aaron, David Bourgeois, Ethan Brown, Matthew Cavnar, Guerrin Gardner, Dave Itzkoff, Angie Maximo, Tom Morrissey, Sara Nelson, Maud Newton, Jeff Rosenthal, John Schaefer, Jennifer Silverman, Sara Vilkomerson, and Matt Weingarden.